


I hope it stays light forever

by Eleftheria_F



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29573256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eleftheria_F/pseuds/Eleftheria_F
Summary: Jean attempts to heal a broken down Floch.
Relationships: Floch Forster/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	I hope it stays light forever

It was hard to describe Floch’s relationship with his friend, Jean. Even though they were just both high school students who hadn’t really seen the word yet, their bond was rather complex. From what started as snide comments to each other, it slowly turned to a friendship. Both would be lying if they said Floch brought out the best in Jean, that wasn’t the case. 

It didn’t stop Jean from pursuing the friendship, though. When he found himself becoming more of an asshole, which people weren’t afraid to point out, he finally put his foot down. The blond remembered it vividly, he was fifteen. A heated argument with Floch was occurring and when he threatened to completely leave the redhead, it seemed to spark something in Floch. 

Now, both seemed more calmer and chiller than back then. They were sixteen, just about to leave high school in a year. Jean hoped for no more drama, no more incidents. He just wanted to relax and focus on his studies so he was able to leave with good grades. 

This wasn’t going to be the case with Floch around. 

It was a late Saturday night, the wind howling and the rain pouring. It was almost something out of a horror movie. Small, shaking hands slammed against an innocent wooden door. It was as if the door had caused all the problems in the world, the fist taking it out on the harmless bit of wood. 

It wasn’t Jean who opened the door though, much to Floch’s disappointed. He stared at the house owner in shame as she swung the door open, an angry expression on her face from all the banging. That quickly dropped into a shock expression as she saw the state of Floch. 

Not only was he soaked through from head to toe, it wasn’t the only substance dripping from him. Blood stained his face and shirt, clearly it came from his nose. His cheek and eye were bruised badly, his bottom lip swelling too. Mrs Kirstein gasped at the sight, she tried not to overreact though. 

“Oh my God, oh my God.” She repeated, quickly ushering Floch inside. “What happened? Who did this to you? Do you need me to call the police?” She asked in a hurry, shooting questions at him. 

“No. No police,” Floch murmured, his voice shaky from whatever happened. “I’m sorry for all this, your house was nearby so...” He trailed off, feeling incredibly guilty for knocking at the door and bothering everyone.

Having heard the commotion, Jean was quick to run downstairs. He looked as though he was ready for bed, a black hoodie he had pulled on as well as grey sweatpants. 

“Jesus fucking Christ.”

Jean was quick to approach Floch, his mother already inspecting the wounds on his face. “Who did this?” He demanded to know, feeling both shocked and angry. Floch never got up to anything bad, yeah he was an asshole sometimes but he never did anything to deserve this before. 

“I don’t know them.” Floch whispered, letting Jean’s mother inspect his face. He knew better than to try argue with the woman, she could be as stubborn as Jean. She was kinder though. “I guess Eren had something to do with it.” He added quietly, staring at anything but Jean and Mrs Kirstein. 

Floch could feel the rage radiating off of Jean, frowning for a moment. “It’s fine.” He tried to excuse, not wanting anyone else to get wound up. He raised a hand to his cheek, wincing at the pain. 

“Jean, you run upstairs and prepare a bath for him. I’ll get you the first aid box.” Mrs Kirstein instructed, smiling softly at Floch. “We’ll get you cleaned up, alright? Don’t you worry about that horrid boy for another minute.” She added, her voice almost venomous at the mention of Eren. 

“Mind text your parents you’re here. We don’t need search parties at our door.” She added as she headed through to the kitchen, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Jean still seemed pissed, turning towards Floch for a moment and pulling him into a gentle hug. He didn’t want to hurt him. “The bastard’s dead.” He muttered threateningly, his hands clenching Floch’s shirt angrily at the thought of Eren Jaeger. He didn’t even care about the blood now staining his hoodie. 

The redhead didn’t even object, he just nodded and leaned into Jean. “H-He told me to go and pick up something from this group of people. I guess he had trouble with them or something cause...” Floch didn’t finish his sentence, instead letting out a shuddering breath. “It hurts so much.”

Hearing how weak Floch was, it wasn’t a usual occurrence, it made Jean pity him. “Shhh, I know.” He whispered, usually he’d be embarrassed to hug anyone like this. Especially when his mother could walk in at any moment, that was just humiliating. But right now it was the least of his worries.

“I’ve gotcha. You’re fine now.” Jean promised, reaching a hand up to stroke Floch’s hair. He felt the other wince under his hand, making him retract it immediately. “I’m sorry.” He pulled away, a sympathetic smile on his face. “Do you feel dizzy or anything?”

Floch waved him off, not minding that Jean accidentally touched a wound. “I’m okay, just fucking sore.” He replied, normally he wouldn’t swear near Mrs Kirstein but he needed to cope with the pain somehow. “There was three of them.”

Jean knew as soon as he got a hold of Eren he was dead meat. He gritted his teeth in anger, wishing he could’ve been there to stop it. “They’re not here anymore. I won’t let this happen again.”

When Mrs Kirstein returned, she sent Jean upstairs to run a bath while she sat Floch down and looked over his wounds. Despite the stinging, he let her clean any open wounds and wipe the blood that had came from his nose. He had multiple bruises all over his body, it was a rough beating. Even though Mrs Kirstein insisted that Floch be taken to the hospital, or at least file a police report, he decided against it. He knew he’d get in shit for doing whatever dodgy deliver Eren sent him out for. 

Afterwards, Floch headed up the stairs slowly to the bathroom. A nice, warm bath had been run by Jean whilst Floch’s injuries were tended to. He smiled a little at the sight of it, it looked so warm and relaxing.

“I uh, hope it isn’t too warm for you.” Jean said as he lay towels down on the toilet seat for when Floch was finished. “I’ll grab you some spare clothes, too.” He added, heading for the door. Floch was the one who was hurt, but Jean was feeling awfully distraught about all this too. He cared for Floch, more than he may have realised he did. Seeing him so beaten and upset hurt him too.

“Wait,” Floch requested, his hand reaching out to grab Jean’s wrist. “Could you stay? If it’s not weird or anything. I just don’t really want to be alone.” He asked with a red face, scared that Jean would laugh and call him weird. Of course, the blond never did that though. “Yeah, sure.” Jean responded, finding it assuring he’d be able to keep an eye on Floch anyway. 

Floch was glad to see him turn to face the wall to give him privacy, happy he was staying in the first place. “Thanks.” He replied as he slowly peeled the wet clothes off, grateful that no one had seemed to complain. He placed them over a towel and then slowly climbed in, the hot water feeling great against his bruised body. Sighing as he sank into the water, Floch let his eyes close for a second as he relaxed. 

His mind drifted off back to what had happened earlier. Floch was completely oblivious to what he had been set up to do. He had spoken to Eren that day, who had asked for him to go and pick up some sort of package for him. Floch wished he never went, he knew it would be risky. Probably drugs or something, he should’ve questioned why Eren couldn’t go himself rather than blindly follow his commands. 

He had stood at a dark alleyway, a lot of money in his pockets. He didn’t know what Eren was buying, he wouldn’t even look. Instead, he planned to just exchange the money for whatever it was and then hand it straight to Eren. But that wasn’t the case. When the three people had turned up, one had asked in a dark, hoarse voice if he was Eren Jaeger. He barely had the chance to say “I’m here for him,” before he was slammed against the closest wall. He remembered how they raised their fists and feet, cornering him against the concrete, their large black boots against his stomach as they kicked and punched and slapped and pulled and shoved and-

Floch was brought back to reality when he felt two hands on his shoulders, shaking him slightly. “Hey hey, you okay?!” Jean seemed alarmed, Floch didn’t realise that his breathing had sped up in a matter of seconds as his mind played back on the events earlier. 

“Don’t think about it, okay? You’re here with me, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to let anyone else do that either.” Jean continued, sighing as Floch reached over and pulled him into a hug this time. He ignored that now his clothes were wet too and instead began to rub Floch’s back carefully. “Shit, man.” He muttered to himself, kneeling down on the floor next to the bath. 

The only thing Floch could do was mutter an apology, he guessed the last thing Jean wanted to do on a Saturday night was comfort a beaten, wet and naked Floch in his bathtub. Floch considered it selfish, but right now he wasn’t complaining. He’d never felt so comforted before, he was almost instantly at ease. 

“Don’t be sorry, it’s fine. Just focus on calming yourself down.” Jean whispered, one hand on Floch’s back and the other cupping the water. He poured the warm water over the teen’s back, trying to get his mind off of how he was attacked.

Floch rolled his eyes but let Jean do it anyway. “This is so fucking gay.” He chuckled, his knees brought up to his chest to give himself some decency. He leaned against the side of the bath, his eyes closing over for a few moments as he heard a scoff from Jean. “Shut up.” Was all the blond could come up with as he poured the water over his shoulders, his eyes lingering sadly on the black and blue bruises across his body. He couldn’t believe someone could hurt Floch like this, even Eren. 

Once Floch was cleaned up and dressed, he lay on a mattress that had been set out in Jean’s room. Mrs Kirstein had been kind enough to get it from a cupboard for him, which Floch appreciated. He wanted nothing more than to lay down and let his body rest, he couldn’t stand being awake and thinking about any more violence. 

The lights were out, only the dim sight of Jean’s phone giving any light to the room. Floch stared at the ceiling intensely, trying to think about anything but the alleyway. It was harder now, he had no distractions. He didn’t even have the energy to go on his phone, either way he’d need to sleep at some point.

“Jean?” He whispered, his head tilting over to face the bed.

He heard a shuffling noise and the phone brightness was gone.

“Yeah?”

“I can’t sleep.”

Floch frowned when he heard a sigh, now paranoid he was just annoying Jean at this point. The paranoia went away when he heard a patting noise.

“Come here then.” A tired voice answered.

Not objecting, Floch pushed himself up slowly so he didn’t hurt himself any more. He smiled a little, crawling into Jean’s bed. “Sorry.” He apologised, his heart speeding up at the fact he was actually in Jean’s bed.

He felt a hand on his cheek, the one that wasn’t bruised, which carefully caressed it. Floch blushed, the smile staying on his face. He leaned into the touch, a hand reaching up to place it over Jean’s bigger hand. 

“Don’t be sorry. You’re acting a lot calmer than I would be.” Jean replied with a quiet laugh, his hand moving from Floch’s cheek to brush through his soft hair. “Think about the future instead, okay?” He tried to think of a way to make Floch feel better, and this is what he came up with. “Think about the summer we’re out from school.” He started, his arm moving to rest over Floch’s waist as he stared at him.

“Think about how we can sleep in all the time. How we can get ice cream every day, even though Sasha tries to steal it all.” Jean laughed softly at the thought. “Nice long walks across the beach, looking up at the sky.” Floch grinned at how cheesy Jean sounded, but he loved it. He leaned forward, his forehead resting against Jean’s chest. “Sounds nice.” He mumbled, his eyes fluttering shut.

Jean never got close with people like this, neither did Floch, but there was no way in hell he’d rather lay here with anybody else. He kept an arm loosely around Floch, a smile on his face as he closed his eyes too. Muttering dumb ideas that they could do in the summer, he and Floch fell asleep without thinking about the tragedy that occurred earlier. 

Jean swore he heard a ‘thank you’ just before he drifted off to sleep.


End file.
